The National Library of Medicine's services: initial observations on indexing, interlibrary loan, and reference.

How have the three services-indexing, reference (including history of medicine), and interlibrary loan-been provided throughout the years by NLM, and how have they been used? At the present time of great growth and development, the use of the computer has influenced these services and will continue to figure prominently in plans for the future. NLM's services often have not been well or correctly used by its public, even by librarians. Some of its services, however, need to be provided in more depth and on a higher scale, and they should be publicized more widely. History shows that NLM has been faithful to its basic charge and has gone far beyond it in its service to the medical, educational, and library communities. Medical librarians are most fortunate that such a great national resource exists to provide materials and services to fulfill the needs of their libraries.